Tag Archives: spouse

Congratulations on your daughter’s acceptance into medical school. Like the first day of kindergarten, this launch is notable for parents as well as children. You may have some concerns about the stresses she will face. Having been there, I can tell you there will be many. Not to worry, though. Times are changing.

So begins an open letter to the parents of female medical students (but really written for the students themselves, natch) by Dr. Kathy Stepien writing for the blog KevinMD.com. The rest of the message paints a dark picture of what women faced in the bad old days in medical school, residency and beyond: Rampant sexism, extending from hazing and mockery to outright assault and career sabotage.

PA school requires a whole new set of study tools from your tool belt. Maybe you thought you had finally figured out what worked for you in undergrad, or while completing another master’s program. Don’t freak out, but welcome back to the beginning.

The pace is faster, the materials are more difficult, and the standards are higher. It’s okay, have your moment of freakout. But then take a step back and try and understand what Touro will help you become: Bigger, better, faster, stronger — wait wait wait . . . that’s Kanye, retract that! In all honesty, though, at the end of this program you will be faster. A faster thinker, a quicker test taker, someone whose synapses are firing and connecting more rapidly than the med students’ standing next to you on rotations.